View source for Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church

{{short description|Member of the Eastern Orthodox Church}}
{{for|the competing claimant|Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate}}{{More citations needed|date=May 2019}}{{Infobox Christian denomination
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| name                = Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church 
| image               = Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church logo.png
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| abbreviation        =EOC 
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| leader_title        =Primate 
| leader_name         =[[Stephanos of Tallinn]] 
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| area                = 
| language            = [[Estonian language|Estonian]]
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| headquarters        = Wismari 32, [[Tallinn, Estonia]]
| territory           = Republic of [[Estonia]]
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| founded_date        = 
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| independence        = 1923 
| reunion             =  
| recognition         = 1923, 1996 by [[Orthodox Church of Constantinople|Constantinople]] 
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| congregations       = 60 (2003)<ref name="irfr"></ref>
| members             = 31,500
 (2020)<ref name=US2022>[https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/estonia  US State Dept 2022 report]</ref> 
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| other_names         =Orthodox Church of Estonia. 
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| website             = [https://www.eoc.ee/?v=a57b8491d1d8 Orthodox Church of Estonia]
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The '''Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church''' ('''EAOC'''; {{langx|et|Eesti Apostlik-Õigeusu Kirik}}, officially the '''Orthodox Church of Estonia''') is an [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] church in [[Estonia]] under the direct jurisdiction of the [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople]]. Under Estonian law it is the legal successor to the pre–[[World War II]] Estonian Orthodox Church, which in 1940 had over 210,000 members, three bishops, 156 parishes, 131 priests, 19 deacons, two monasteries, and a theological seminary; the majority of the members were ethnic Estonians.

The primate of the church is [[Stephanos of Tallinn|Stephanos]], [[Metropolitan bishop|Metropolitan]] of [[Tallinn]] and all Estonia, elected in 1999.

==History==
{{main|Eastern Orthodoxy in Estonia}}
[[File:Võru Suurkannataja Ekaterina kirik 2013.JPG|thumb|175px|left|Saint Catherine's Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church in [[Võru]].]]
Little is known about the history of the church in the area until the 17th and 18th centuries, when many [[Old Believers]] fled there from Russia to avoid the liturgical reforms introduced by Patriarch [[Patriarch Nikon|Nikon]] of Moscow.{{Eastern Orthodox sidebar|expanded=history}}In the 18th and 19th centuries, Estonia was a part of the [[Russian Empire]]. In the 1850s a rumour spread that the Orthodox Church promised to provide everybody who converted to Orthodoxy a piece of land of their own somewhere in Russia. Some 65,000 Estonian peasants were converted to the Orthodox faith in the hope of obtaining land, and numerous Orthodox churches were built.<ref>"Eesti Apostlik-Õigeusu Kirik, Ajalugu (=History) (In Estonian)" (www.eaok.ee)</ref> Later, when the rumour turned out to be a hoax, a great part of the new Orthodox peasants returned to the Lutheran Church.

In the late 19th century, a wave of [[Russification]] was introduced, supported by the Russian hierarchy but not by the local Estonian clergy. The [[Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky in Tallinn]] and the [[Pühtitsa]] (Pukhtitsa) convent in Kuremäe in East Estonia were also built around this time.

=== Autonomy under the Moscow Patriarchate ===
After the [[Republic of Estonia]] was proclaimed in 1918, the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, St. [[Tikhon of Moscow|Tikhon]], in 1920 recognised the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church (EAOC) as being autonomous (Resolution No. 1780), postponing the discussion of its [[autocephaly]].<ref name="Toom"></ref> Archbishop [[Aleksander Paulus]] was elected and ordained {{interlanguage link|Metropolitan of Tallinn and All Estonia|qid=Q12376223}}, head of the EAOC.<ref name="eoc">[http://www.orthodox.ee/indexeng.php?d=history/history Historical background of Orthodoxy in Estonia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811060357/http://www.orthodox.ee/indexeng.php?d=history%2Fhistory |date=2016-08-11 }}, [[Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate]] website.</ref>

Prior to this, [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Russia]] had adopted a [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] ideology which held as an ideological goal the elimination of religion and its replacement with [[state atheism]].<ref>[[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich]]. [http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1909/may/13.htm "The Attitude of the Workers' Party to Religion"], [[Proletary]], No.45, May 13 (26), 1909.</ref> In response, Patriarch Tikhon had [[Excommunication|excommunicated]] the Soviet leadership in 1918, leading to a period of [[Treatment of Christians in the Soviet Union#Anti-religious campaign 1917–1921|intense persecution]] of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]].<ref>Pospielovsky, Dimitry V. ''The Russian Church Under the Soviet Regime, 1917–1983'', ch.2, St Vladimir's Seminary Press, Crestwood NY, 1984.</ref> In April 1922, Tikhon was imprisoned,<ref>[http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=102906 "Glorification of St Tikhon, the Apostle to America"], [[Orthodox Church in America]] website.</ref> and the Estonian clergy lost contact with the Moscow Patriarchate.

=== Transfer to the Ecumenical Patriarchate ===
In September 1922 the Council of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church petitioned the Patriarch of Constantinople, [[Patriarch Meletius IV of Constantinople|Meletius IV]], to (1) transfer control of the Estonian church from the Russian Orthodox Church to the [[Patriarchate of Constantinople]], and (2) clarify the Estonian church's canonical status. In 1923 the Patriarchate of Constantinople issued a ''tomos'' (ecclesiastical edict) which brought the EAOC under Constantinople's jurisdiction and granted it [[Autonomy (Eastern Orthodoxy)|autonomy]], but not full [[autocephaly]].<ref name="history">Ringvee, Ringo. [http://www.estonica.org/en/Eastern_orthodoxy_in_Estonia_%E2%80%94_a_brief_overview_of_religious_controversy/History_of_the_controversy/ "History of the controversy"], ''Estonica – Encyclopedia about Estonia'', Estonian Institute.</ref><ref name="Toom">Toom, Tarmo. [https://books.google.com/books?id=JmFetR5Wqd8C&dq=The%20encyclopedia%20of%20Eastern%20Orthodox%20Christianity&pg=PA226 "Estonia, Orthodox Church in"], ''The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity'', p.226-8, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2011.</ref>

Before 1941, one-fifth of the total Estonian population (who had been mostly [[Lutheran]] since the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] in the early 16th century when the country was controlled by the Teutonic Order) were Orthodox Christians under the Patriarchate of Constantinople. There were 158 parishes in Estonia and 183 clerics in the Estonian church. There was also a Chair of Orthodoxy in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Tartu. There was a [[Pskovo-Pechorsky Monastery]] in [[Pechory|Petseri]], two convents in Narva and Kuremäe, a priory in Tallinn and a [[seminary]] in Petseri. The ancient monastery in Petseri was preserved from the mass church destructions that occurred in Soviet Russia.

===World War II===
In 1940, Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union, whose government undertook a general programme of the dissolution of all ecclesiastical independence within its territory. From 1942 to 1944, however, autonomy under Constantinople was temporarily revived. In 1945, a representative of the Moscow Patriarchate dismissed the members of the OCE synod who had remained in Estonia and established a new organisation, the Diocesan Council. Orthodox believers in occupied Estonia were thus subordinated to being a diocese within the Russian Orthodox Church.

Just before the second Soviet occupation in 1944 and the dissolution of the Estonian synod, the [[Primate (bishop)|primate]] of the church, Metropolitan Aleksander, went into exile along with 21 clergymen and about 8,000 Orthodox believers. The Orthodox Church of Estonia in Exile with its synod in Sweden continued its activity according to the canonical statutes, until the restoration of Estonian independence in 1991. Before he died in 1953, Metr. Aleksander established his community as an [[exarchate]] under Constantinople. Most of the other bishops and clergy who remained behind were deported to Siberia. In 1958, a new synod was established in exile, and the church was organized from Sweden.

===Inactive===
In 1978, at the urging of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Ecumenical Patriarch declared the charter (''tomos'') of the Church as granted in 1923, inoperative. The church ceased to exist until the breakup of the Soviet Union, when divisions within the Orthodox community in Estonia arose between those who claimed that the Moscow Patriarchate has no jurisdiction in Estonia and those who wished to return to the jurisdiction of Moscow. The dispute often took place along ethnic lines, as many Russians had immigrated to Estonia during the Soviet occupation. Lengthy negotiations between the two patriarchates failed to produce any agreement.

===Reactivation===
{{Further|1996 Moscow–Constantinople schism}}
In 1993, the synod of the Orthodox Church of Estonia in Exile was re-registered as the legal successor of the autonomous Orthodox Church of Estonia, and on February 20, 1996, the [[Ecumenical Patriarch]] [[Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople|Bartholomew I]] formally reactivated the tomos granted to the OCE in 1923, restoring its canonical subordination to the [[Ecumenical Patriarchate]]. This action brought immediate protest from the Estonian-born [[Patriarch of Moscow|Patriarch]] [[Patriarch Alexius II|Alexei II]] of the Moscow Patriarchate, which regarded the Estonian church as being part of its territory. The Patriarch of Moscow temporarily removed the name of the Ecumenical Patriarch from the diptychs.

In this difficult situation, the Orthodox Church of Estonia received help and support from the [[Finnish Orthodox Church]], especially from Archbishop [[John Rinne|Johannes (Rinne)]] of the Archdiocese of Karelia and All Finland and Auxiliary Bishop [[Ambrosius, Metropolitan of Helsinki|Ambrosius (Risto Jääskeläinen)]] of Joensuu. The Ecumenical Patriarchate decided that Archbishop Johannes, Bishop Ambrosius and pastor Heikki Huttunen from Espoo should be available to give help in the reconstruction of the newly restored church. Archbishop Johannes would temporarily act as a deputy metropolitan (1996–1999) of the Estonian Autonomous Church.<ref>Metropolitan Johannes:"Viron ortodoksisen Kirkon tie uuteen itsenäisyyteen" Aamun Koitto Number 19/2007  p.18-20</ref> 

An agreement was reached in which local congregations could choose which jurisdiction to follow. The Orthodox community in Estonia, which accounts for 16.15% of the total population,<ref name=stat2011>{{cite web|url= http://pub.stat.ee/px-web.2001/Dialog/varval.asp?ma=PC0454&lang=1|title= PC0454: AT LEAST 15-YEAR-OLD PERSONS BY RELIGION, SEX, AGE GROUP, ETHNIC NATIONALITY AND COUNTY, 31 DECEMBER 2011|date= 31 December 2011|access-date= 9 January 2014|publisher= [[Statistics Estonia]]}}</ref> remains divided, with the majority of faithful (mostly ethnic Russians) remaining under the Russian Orthodox Church. From a U.S. Department of State report released in November 2003, about 20,000 believers (mostly ethnic Estonians) in 60 parishes are part of the church under Constantinople, with 150,000 faithful in 31 parishes, along with the monastic community of Pühtitsa, under the Russian Orthodox Church.<ref name="irfr"> [https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2003/24355.htm International Religious Freedom Report 2003] </ref>

In 1999, the church received a resident hierarch, Metropolitan [[Stephanos of Tallinn|Stephanos (Charalambides) of Tallinn]], formerly an [[auxiliary bishop]] under the Ecumenical Patriarchate's Metropolitan of France.

==See also==
*[[Religion in Estonia]]
*[[Catholic Church in Estonia]]
*[[Eastern Orthodoxy in Estonia]]
*[[Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate]]

==References==
<references />

==Sources==
*''Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity'', pp.&nbsp;183–4
*[http://www.cnewa.org/default.aspx?ID=33&pagetypeID=9&sitecode=HQ&pageno=1 The Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church] by Ronald Roberson, a Roman Catholic priest and scholar.

==External links==

* [http://www.orthodoxa.org/GB/accueil_GB.htm Former official website of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church]
* [https://www.eoc.ee/?v=a57b8491d1d8 Current official website of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church]
*[http://www.orthodox.ee/index.html Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504010611/http://www.orthodox.ee/index.html |date=2018-05-04 }}
* The History Files [https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/MainChurchesEurope.htm Churches of Estonia]

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[[Category:Eastern Orthodoxy in Estonia]]
[[Category:Christian organizations established in 1917]]
[[Category:Eastern Orthodox organizations established in the 20th century]]
[[Category:Eastern Orthodox Church bodies in Europe]]
[[Category:Dioceses established in the 20th century]]
[[Category:Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]]
[[Category:1917 establishments in Estonia]]